Michigan

NASCAR, conservation groups team up

Courtesy Photo/Michigan United Conservation ClubsThe buildings at Mill Lake Camp will be renovated with monies collected by Racing for Wildlife Program.

The whine of turbo-charged race engines and call of a chickadee may seem miles apart to many people, but an usual partnership will soon bring them together.

NASCAR fans at Michigan International Speedway and state and national conservation interests are joining hands to help fund two Michigan outdoor and conservation centers.

"It's a cool idea that started a year and a half ago," Ron Olson, Michigan's state park chief, said. "We're trying to get unlikely partners to work together, to find different ways to do things at a time when we're unlikely to get traditional funding."

Olson is referring to Racing for Wildlife, a fledgling conservation program started by 31-year old NASCAR driver, Ryan Newman, and The Conservation Fund, a Virgina based national non-profit organization.

The program will be promoted at Michigan International Speedway on June 13 and later rolled out at race tracks around the country. Racing for Wildlife hopes to tap NASCAR's 75 million fans for donations, money that can be directed to a variety of conservation projects.

"NASCAR fans tend to be fisherman, and conservation is important to them," said Sammie Lukaskiewicz, the MIS communications director. "Spending time with the family outdoors is important to our fans."

Event planned June 13
MIS announced the program in 2007 and moves forward with its "Racing for Wildlife 200" on June 13. The event is part of the ARCA-RE/MAX series of races. The racetrack has agreed to provide the Racing for Wildlife staff with a booth space where they can meet and greet the crowd.

Money raised at that and other MIS races will go to developing Mill Lake and Cedar Lake outdoor centers in the Waterloo State Recreation Area just east of Jackon.

"We are looking to revitalize Mill Lake and expand the programming at Cedar Lake," said Dennis Muchmore, the executive director for Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

MUCC runs a eight-week program at the Cedar Lake facility that may become a year-round program. MUCC, according to an agreement with the state, will also develop programming at the Mill Lake facility.

Mill Lake would become the family outdoor center where parents and children could come out and learn about conservation. Families could also get exposed to other outdoor recreation.

The program would offer clinics in hiking, geocaching, fishing, tracking bird and animal identification along with leadership training and conservation issues, just to name a few. Program organizers say it is vital to get America's youth and parents back outdoors.

Getting that done, however, will take some money. Mill Lake Outdoor Center was built in the 1930's to give Detroit schoolchildren a taste of wilderness, according to Olson. It is in need of substantial renovation.

"We gave the Ryan Newman Foundation a $500,000 Phase I figure to get it up and running," Olson said, adding that the target fund raising goal is $1.2 million.

Rex Boner, the vice president for the Conservation Fund, said his organization is committed to raising money for the Mill Lake project. Michigan International Speedway is just one of the venues it will use to find money for the outdoor center.

Racing For Wildlife, he said, is also funding a project in Alabama's Talladega National Forest near the Talladega Superspeedway.

"We have proposals that might go out to foundations and corporations," said Boner. "The race track is a great venue, but we are looking at other venues as well."

Ryan Newman's interest in funding a Michigan conservation program, stems from growing up in Indiana and fishing in Dowagiac with his grandfather as a boy. The Ryan Newman Foundation could not be reached for comment, but Olson said he learned of the young driver's interests when discussions about the project began in earnest.

"He's made money racing and now has the foundation," Olson said. "He and his wife wanted to give something back and provide an opportunity for kids to get outdoors."